“That!” he said, pointing at her bag.
“This?” Maddie pulled the pink gun back out. “This is Sprinkles, my handgun.”
“Sprinkles?” he said with a look of incredulity. “Your gun is pink and you named it Sprinkles?”
“Yes. I own a bakery, come on. Anyway, it’s not a big deal. I have a concealed-carry permit. And it’s just a .22. It wouldn’t have killed him, not from this distance. I wasn’t aiming for his head,” she said with a wicked chuckle.
Emmett shook his head and buried his face in his palms. “You know, I know we never discussed what we’d do if we actually caught the guy, but you leaping from the roof and pulling a gun on him wasn’t what I’d anticipated.”
Maddie felt a sheepish blush come over her cheeks. She slipped the gun back into her purse and sat it by her feet. “I know, and I’m sorry. If he’d been about to spray-paint it on the car wash or the hardware store, we could’ve just called the cops and let them handle it. But I couldn’t let him ruin my bakery.”
“We know how to clean it off, Maddie,” he said, taking a few steps toward her and wrapping his arms around her waist. “It wouldn’t have been the end of the world.”
“Not for you, but I didn’t want my bakery tainted. I would always know it was there once, even after we cleaned it off. I couldn’t stand the idea of a pe . . . thing on the wall of the business I’d worked so hard to start.”
Emmett looked down at her with a quizzical lift of his eyebrow. “Fancy, say the word ‘penis.’ ”
She flinched and wrinkled her nose. “No. I don’t like that word.”
“Say the word: ‘penis.’ Pee-nisss,” he hissed.
Maddie rolled her eyes. “Ugh. No, no, I’m not going to say it.”
“Come on, Madelyn,” he urged. “You can do it. Say it. I’m not going to let this go until you say it.”
Maddie looked around her with a wary eye. She had a hard time saying no with Emmett’s hypnotizing green gaze fixed on her. “Okay, fine. I don’t know why this is so important.” She took a deep breath. “Penis. Okay? Penis, penis, penis.”
With opportune timing, Maddie noticed that her brother Simon had approached them. He was a couple of feet away with a confused and suspicious look on his face. “Um, are you done with whatever is going on here?”
“Yes!” she insisted while Emmett laughed. Maddie had no intention of ever saying that word aloud again.
“Okay, then. Sheriff Todd is going to take Clark back to the station to book him. I’d like to get your statements.”
Emmett nodded. “Is it okay if we do it back at the bar? It’s gotten a little chillier than I was expecting it to be tonight.”
“Sounds fine.
”
All three of them turned in time to see Sheriff Todd load Clark Newton into the cruiser. He climbed into the front and the squad car disappeared around the corner headed back to the station.
“It’s a shame, really,” Simon said.
“What is?”
“Well, this is a hell of a story, but there’s no one at the newspaper to write it up.”
Simon didn’t stay long. Emmett got the feeling he wanted to get back to the station so he didn’t miss out on Clark’s story. He understood. There had to be a damn good reason why the owner of the newspaper was running around creating penile art all over Rosewood, and everyone was probably waiting to find out what that was.
By the time he cleared out, it was almost four in the morning. “Can I get you something to drink?” Emmett asked once they were alone in the bar. “I think I could use a little something.”
She shook her head. Despite her bravado with the gun, he could tell she was a little rattled. The adrenaline rush of climbing down the side of the building and apprehending the Penis Picasso was wearing off. She looked tired and anxious.
Emmett understood. He’d hesitated long enough to call the cops on his cell phone while his scaredy-cat ass had to go back downstairs through the store, unlock the front door, relock it, and run to catch up with her. By the time he got there, the cops had arrived and he felt like the last to the party.
He ignored her protests and poured her a glass of Sprite anyway. Although she was normally up at this hour, he wasn’t certain how much sleep she’d gotten before they went out. Since it was her day off, she might be wanting to return to bed, so he didn’t want to give her caffeine. Then he poured himself a shot of whiskey. He needed something to calm his nerves.
Maddie eyed her drink for a moment. “Do you stock champagne at the bar?”